“We find living in an ICF house to be a very pleasant experience and we’re very grateful to our engineer for recommending ICF and HRV. My husband suffers from hay fever and my son suffers from asthma. We all find that the quality of our sleep has improved a lot since we moved in.”

“After living in our ICF house for more than 2 years that I can really tell you (the facts) the huge benefits of this brilliant building system. I spent ”a lot of time” researching the different building systems and I feel in the end it has really paid off. As an Engineer myself I wasn’t easily persuaded so I needed to find out the facts for myself… In the end I built a 380m2 (4090 square feet) ICF dormer house using the Thermohouse Wall, floor and roofing systems and installed the Nilan Compact P with Geo6 geothermal heat pump and underfloor heating system.

As I went the self-build route I did some of the work myself along with two other newbie’s to this system (one a carpenter and the other a general labourer) even though this was totally new to us but we couldn’t have done this without the help of Dony Kelly of Thermohouse.

The whole system is pretty simple but it’s the attention to detail that will save you money in the long run especially when it comes to Air tightness and cold bridging. The Thermohouse system is the ideal all-rounder when it comes to modern energy efficiency.

Once we moved into the house we didn’t know ourselves. As we kept telling everyone ‘’it’s like living in a Hotel”.

The comfort of having the whole house (every corner) at the same temperature was new to both of us. We had intended in building two chimneys, one for a stove and one for a fireplace in the sitting room but we didn’t fit either because there was no need even with a modern open plan design. We can go around the house in our bear feet and in tee’s no matter what time of year.

I remember the cold snap we had when we first moved in and it was -6 outside. Our bedroom window was open when I went to sleep thinking my wife would close it when she went to bed a few minutes later. When I woke up the following morning the room was as about 22 degrees (warm) so I presumed my wife closed the window but then I noticed it was open all night…. I couldn’t understand how this could happen but I put it down to the unbelievable ICF insulation and most importantly the Air Tightness that the Thermohouse system provides. If the rest of the house was not air tight it would have created a draft and cooled the whole house overnight. I am amazed to this day…

When it comes to running costs, the first year cost us less than €400 for heating and hot water. Our only bill was the ESB bill which was €1,221.66 in total including the heating and hot water so there was no running out of oil/gas, no drawing in firewood and cleaning out ashes from the fireplace.

Our 2nd year the ESB cost €1,330.34 which included €469.39 for heating and constant hot water (this was due to the new arrival and boiling the kettle constantly….!)

All in all, I couldn’t be happier with the Thermohouse building system and would definitely recommend it to anyone else doing a new build. It has created a warm, happy and very healthy environment for me and our family. What more can you ask for.”

– Homeowner

“In fact the build went up so quickly we were delayed by the electricity connection and the windows, not the structure itself!…..For our new home, I was very conscious that we were building two bungalows that basically were attached to one another, which means the house is quite deep. So, when we inherited the site, we thought that, although we were familiar with blockwork, an ICF home would be better able to guarantee the kind of insulation I was looking for. Both the roof and the walls were built with ICF. The floor has an ICF layer in the foundations too, then we put in poured concrete. And I can tell you that the bare floor is never cold!”

– Homeowner